Wood Boring Insects.

[Robert Le Macon]

We have some 100 yr old beams that are currently being eaten by something.[+o(] Everytime we return to the house there are pile of dust in a couple of areas under/adjacent to the aforementioned beams.Does anyone know if the 'paint-on' preservatif/curatif stuff from Brico Depot is any good? (We are on the Britany/Normandy border so I doubt if we have termites) 

On a slightly different subject we found somne little beetles, grey/brown in colour with a domed shape, wings, about 1/2cm long and a propensity for shaking thier rear ends and making a rythmic clicking noise.Not connected to scoffing the wood as they look too big. Any ideas what they might be. (And how to get rid of them)

[WJT]

I am sorry to give you the news but it sounds as if you have what we have, Capricorne.

They are very common in France, they are beetles that eat the outer part of your beams and leave oval largish sized exit holes in the wood as well as the dust you mention. The actual beetle you are seeing is the adult as it exits, I believe the larvae is what is doing the damage inside the beam. Unfortunately, you can actually hear them eating the wood, sounds like a scraping sound.

This subject has been discussed at length on the forum, I would recommend doing a search. We too have to get our Capricorne problem sorted [:(].  Best of luck.